Yumekui Merry (anime): Overall Impressions

You know, I believe the fact that the anime plot diverged from that of the source manga halfway through was what killed it.

I know that a lot of people have said so, but the mere fact that I feel the need to stress this serves to prove the fact. I'd read those self-same reactions while I was still in the first quarter of the anime, which in my opinion is by far the best part of the entire series. The midway point was somewhat passable, though I'd hoped that it was merely a lull in the story that would soon be remedied by a titanically climactic ending.

I was sadly, sadly disillusioned.

Without going into too much detail, on the off chance that you still decide to watch this dredge in spite of many caveats, the ending isn't bad; that would have been the easy way out for the animators. Instead, it was mediocre, and downright lukewarm.

It was depressing, to say the absolute least, to see what could have been a beautiful gem of an anime along the lines of Angel Beats, or even Last Exile, devolve into such drivel.

What's sad is that I'd really grown to love the characters. Yumeji's stereotypical shonen-demographic personality, while undeniably clichéd, was rather comfortable, for lack of a better word. And need I mention the unbelievably endearing Merry? She is quite probably one of the most unique female protagonists I've seen in recent months, though that quality admittedly extends only to shonen anime; As a general sort of rule, they've got less character development as opposed to josei and the like.

If you've had the misfortune of beginning this anime, what with how beautiful and enticing it appears at first, then you have my sincerest condolences. I'd tried to stop watching, promising myself to cut off before the mediocrity began. As you can surmise, I'd neglected to do so. Idle curiosity was to blame, I suppose.

Nevertheless, reading the manga counterpart took a lot of the sting off of the ending; the characters are fully fleshed, and the plot is actually quite good. Ironic, how the manga counterpart is every bit as superb as the anime version is sophomoric.

P.S.

On a lighter note, I suppose it is worth mentioning that the "beach episode" that seems to be almost mandatory in most modern-day shonen animes was fairly well made. For those of you who plan to have nothing to do with the rest of the series, the aforementioned episode is the 7th one in the series.

Cheer.s